Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!

We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and sunflowers on the PCOM website- go there by clicking here.
And we are proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here.

The stops this week include locations in Custer, Woods, Alfalfa and Garfield Counties. We have each of these meetings listed on our calendar page on our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com and we have that linked below.

For the session that is this morning, the Custer County Field Tour meeting begins at 10 AM on the Shane O'Daniel farm. The location for this session is 1 mile north of the cemetery, north of Weatherford, on HWY 54 and 2.5 miles back west. The Canola is on the north side of the road.

Click here for our Calendar Page and more details on the Winter Canola Field Stops of this week

Many groups, as well as some lawmakers like House Ag Committee Chairman Colin Peterson, say that mandatory animal ID should be implemented to assure rapid traceback of animals to their birthplace in case of an infectious disease outbreak. However, several cattle groups, including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and R-Calf USA oppose mandatory Animal ID. We hear from one of these groups today on our Beef Buzz as Bill Bullard talks to us in advacne of his attendance at the USDA meeting today.

We have our Wednesday Beef Buzz linked below- and we also link back on that page to April first when we had comments from Secretary Vilsack on this same subject. Click on the link and go Beef Buzzing with us.

Click here for our midweek Beef Buzz on today's Animal ID meeting at USDA

Stallman says, - by allowing travel on a general license for those making agricultural sales to Cuba, rather than the specific license currently needed, would significantly impact the ability to transact commercial sales with Cuba.

Other AFBF priorities include commercially defining 'cash payments in advance; allowing the country to directly wire payment to U.S. banks; and allowing Cuban inspectors to travel to the U.S. to meet with suppliers, inspect facilities and verify procedures and standards associated with the sale of U.S. food and agricultural exports to Cuba.

Here's what the eBay page says about the HSUS along with the listing of clothes you can bid on from Ellen- "The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest and most effective animal protection organization-backed by 10 million Americans, or one in every 30. Established in 1954, The HSUS seeks a humane and sustainable world for all animals-a world that will also benefit people. We are America's mainstream force against cruelty, exploitation and neglect, as well as the most trusted voice extolling the human-animal bond."

A few weeks back, we quoted Wayne Pacelle, the President of the HSUS in his regular blog as to what their real agenda is- just to remind you of that, here it is again, "We believe in the Three Rs-reducing the consumption of meat and other animal-based foods; refining the diet by eating products only from methods of production, transport, and slaughter that minimize pain and distress; and replacing meat and other animal-based foods in the diet with plant-based foods."

Click here to see the Ellen ad on eBay

"Stewardship Week is a time when we recognize the hard work of agriculture producers and other landowners do to conserve our soil, water, air, wildlife habitats and other natural resources," Trey Lam, President of OACD said. "It's important that we let folks know what we do to protect the environment as part of our farming and ranching operations. It's also important that we educate our fellow ag producers and other citizens on the importance of the stewardship ethic and the need to care for our environment. We are glad to have the Oklahoma Cotton Council working with us to do this."

"The Oklahoma Cotton Council is excited to be able to partner with the OACD to emphasize Stewardship Week here in Oklahoma," Harvey Schroeder, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Cotton Council said. "The Native American Proverb points us in the right direction when it says 'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.' The responsibility for Stewardship rests squarely on our shoulders."

"This is a great partnership, The Oklahoma Cotton Council and OACD," Clay Pope, Executive Director of OACD said. "By working together we can help ensure that all Oklahomans, both rural and urban, know the importance of protecting and conserving our Natural Resources. Farmers and ranchers were the first environmentalists and are the primary stewards of our natural resources, but we must stay vigilant and address the problems of today while avoiding the mistakes of the past. Agriculture producers work hard to conserve our soil, water, air, and wildlife habitats, but we still have more to do. We appreciate the help of the Cotton Council in telling the story of Agriculture and helping us promote Stewardship state wide."

Dan Parrish writes of Joe Hughes "Dr. Joe Hughes was not only the MOST OUTSTANDING EVER Livestock Specialist in Oklahoma, he was easily the most innovative,helpful,fully-committed and father-like figure in the USA, not only to thousands of young individuals,but also to many 4-H ADVISORS and other adults like myself who have attended livestock shows and livestock judging contests.There have been and will be numerous livestock specialists,however anybody who attempt to successfully duplicate JOE HUGHES' lifelong commitment as a superb livestock specialist and attempt to fill the giant footprints that Joe has left, will not succeed. THANK YOU and GOD BLESS Dr. JOE HUGHES!!!!!"

Mike Vache emailed us last night and offered this salute to Dr. Joe- "Joe Hughes was a very special person to everyone he crossed paths with. I remember first meeting Joe when he was finishing his Phd. and I was an undergrad. He was our Block and Bridle advisor and was very influential in seeing our organization grow. He later took that same enthusiasm to his new job with extension Animal Science. From there he affected so many youth as well as adults for many years to follow. Finally after many dedicated years of service, Joe retired. But soon after the Animal Science Alumni Association needed someone to take Lowell Walters place as our Secretary/Treasure and you guessed it many of us knew Joe was the man. Joe again gave some new life to our organization and of course gave his all to seeing our students could benefit from the many scholarships our organization awarded. We all still have a chance to help Joe's legacy continue by giving to the Joe Hughes Endowed Scholarship Fund. Joe will be missed by us all."

In the Bartlesville area, Kevin Potter and his radio stations offer a lot of choice in hearing our daily updates. We have multiple reports on their country station KRIG FM, on their Adult Contemporary Brightstar 100.1 FM, KYFM, on their news talk legendary KWON at 1400 on the AM dial as well as on KPGM at 1500 on the AM dial in the Pawhuska area. Click on the call letters of any of these stations to see what shows they carry and when and take a look at their coverage map to see which stations you can receive.

Further east in the Vinita and Grand Lake area, we are very proud to have KITO FM and KGND AM as a part of our RON ag radio family. KITO at 96.1 FM is a powerhouse country music stations that also serves the region with great information, including several of our farm and ranch news and market updates. KGND offers sports talk- as well as general news and farm information for the counties in the northeastern corner of the state. Click on their call letters to learn more about what shows they carry and their listening area as well.
If you are near one of these stations- take a listen- and let the station management know that you appreciate their support of the farm and ranch industry in our state by including our reports in their programming.

We have our complete listing of radio stations around the state that carry our Radio Oklahoma Farm Reports linked below- there are a couple of more stations that we will be listing in the next few days- including KMAD in Madill and KLZI in Catoosa that are also RON Ag Radio Affiliates. If for some reason, your local station does not carry Ron on RON- call them and ask why not?

Click here for the full listing of our Radio Stations that Carry RON Ag Programming

We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click on the name of the report to go to that link:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.